Question

Explain the concept of liberty in the writings of Isaiah Berlin.

Answer 1

ISAIAH BERLIN ON LIBERTY The two concepts of liberty here are the negative and positive concepts. Berlin‟sdifferentiation between the negative and positive concepts of liberty was revealed in a lecturehe first delivered in the year 1958. He believed that the pluralism of human ideas andconception of life account for the idea of liberalism. Liberalism for him is not only a politicalideology among many others but it drives us into the very essence of politics. In brief, thenotion of negative liberty means freedom from the constraints or interference from outside,while positive liberty derives from the wise on the part of the individual to be his ownmaster.7 The original thought of the distinction between negative and positive liberty could be tracedto the English philosopher Immanuel Kant. This distinction is somewhat political and,surprisingly, different from discussions with regard to philosophy per se. the discussion ofthese two concepts of liberty provides us two opposing approaches to liberty. One sees libertyas the absence of all constraints and similar things; where you are only free when you are notstopped from doing what you want.This would be the negative aspect of Berlin‟s liberty. Theother sees it as some kind of autonomy and complete control by the individual himself. theindividual decides what to do, he or she is autonomous. This would be the positive aspect ofBerlin‟s liberty. For a true liberty like Berlin, any form of constraint upon freedom is something that a decentgovernment would necessarily have to do away with, and keep to a minimum degree thatwould enable her accommodate the other rights of her citizens.